Mr Potter said the veloway would connect bike trails and be an important cross-town link.

“It will enable cyclists to ride from Richmond in the east, along the Yarra, past Birrarrung Marr, under the Princes Bridge and then up and over the veloway to the busy Docklands precinct and Southern Cross Station in the west,” he said.

“The current thinking which seems to begin and end with bike lanes and painting lines on roads is demonstrably not good enough. As a congested city we have to make life easier for motorists, taxis, delivery drivers and cyclists.”